Iran to remove four zeroes from currency

Iran's parliament economic committee on Sunday approved a bill to remove four zeros from the national currency, which has steadily depreciated in recent years, particularly due to international sanctions, state media reported.

The parliament's official website, ICANA, quoted economic committee chairman Shamseddin Hosseini as saying, "The economic committee meeting today approved the name of the rial as the national currency, as well as the removal of four zeros."

Central Bank Governor Mohammad Reza Farzin had announced in May that the Iranian rial "does not have a positive image" in the global economy.

According to the bill, the new rial would be equivalent to 10,000 current rials and would be divided into 100 qirans, a unit equivalent to a cent, the same source said.

The proposal was first introduced in 2019 before being withdrawn. It must now be put to a vote in parliament and approved by the Guardian Council, which is responsible for reviewing laws.

In recent years, the rial has continued its decline, particularly after the United States withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018 and reimposed sanctions on Tehran.

The decline has accelerated since Trump’s return to the White House in January, whose first term was characterized by a policy of "maximum pressure" on Iran.

The daily newspaper Donya-e-Eqtesad reported that the dollar price in the black market reached 925,000 rials on Sunday, compared to 913,500 rials on Saturday.

Hakem Mamakan, spokesperson for the parliament's economic committee, said Monday that the government's proposal aims to "facilitate transactions and audits within state institutions."

To simplify transactions, Iranians have for years informally referred to their currency as the toman, by dropping one zero from the rial's value, which often causes confusion for foreign visitors.